These pages are the expressions of business investor Kam-Au Amen.
I have a philosophy that embraces wealth creation and here is where I share some of the ideas I have about building wealth through real estate, entertainment, media and other cultural enterprises. Enjoy!

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Sunday, May 29, 2016

I’ve thought for a while about the angle I would take to this story of Jamaica’s only heroine, Nanny of the Maroons as she’s officially called, even while the Maroons of Jamaica often refer to her as “Grandy Nanny” or “Queen Nanny”. As to why she is called “Nanny”, some have indicated that it could be an Anglicization of the Asante title “Nana”, accorded to elders as an indication of respect.

Source: National Library of Jamaica

There are hardly any new facts I can bring to Nanny’s legendary story, but nevertheless I believe her story has some significance for us in this time.At this point in our history we are called upon to continue the African struggles in the Caribbean and the Americas for not only our survival but also our prosperity as African peoples.The story of Nanny of the Maroons is one of survival and this should be one of the key lessons we take away as we encounter her story; her triumphs and her losses.

The accounts surrounding her are somewhat a mix of myth and fact that seek to give us insight into why she did what she did, but there can be little doubt around the fact that her struggles were about survival.That is, her survival and that of her community who found themselves marooned in Jamaica, victims of the European slave trade, for the most part, if not explorers in their own right, as professor Ivan Van Sertima has revealed to us in his own writings of the African presence in the Caribbean and the Americas before Christopher Columbus.

Nanny, who was likely an ethnic Akan/Asante woman, was named a national hero in Jamaica in 1975, a period when the post-colonial Caribbean nation was fighting to establish its own independent identity.This was all part of a movement to reorient the young nation to the brave action of some of its past freedom fighters, and to establish a pantheon of its own to challenge the heroes and the values European enslavement and colonialism had left with its people.The success of these efforts may still be debated.But, very few can argue against the fact that Jamaican ideas about the modern world that were crystallized in the movements of Marcus Garvey, Rastafari and some radical activists, have, through Jamaican music, given the nation a distinctly international African diaspora identity.Maybe this was not what Nanny envisioned, but we know for sure that her struggles to survive helped in making this reality possible.

According to the Jamaica Information Service’s website, the official Jamaica government news agency, it declares that, “Nanny was a leader of the Maroons at the beginning of the 18th century. Both the Maroons and the British settlers knew her as an outstanding military leader who became, in her lifetime and after, a symbol of unity and strength for her people during times of crisis.She was particularly important to them in the fierce fight with the British, during the First Maroon War from 1720 to 1739.”

Nanny, is described in this account as having “exceptional leadership qualities” and was physically a “wiry woman with piercing eyes.”It documents that, “her influence over the Maroons was so strong, that it seemed to be supernatural and was said to be connected to her powers of obeah. She was particularly skilled in organizing the guerilla warfare carried out by the Eastern Maroons to keep away the British troops who attempted to penetrate the mountains to overpower them.”

Further, Grandy Nanny was also presented as “a type of chieftain or wise woman of the village, who passed down legends and encouraged the continuation of customs, music and songs, that had come with the people from Africa, and which instilled in them confidence and pride.”Her militancy has been noted by her disagreement, “when Quao signed the second Treaty (the first was signed by Cudjoe for the Leeward Maroons a few months earlier) with the British, ” as Nanny saw this move as a form of subjugation.What seems very clear from all the accounts is that Nanny was relentless in her struggle to maintain freedom and independence from British domination.

Source: Bank of Jamaica

It is therefore quite understandable the reasons for making Nanny a national hero at the time when the young Jamaican nation needed to make a bold statement about breaking away from colonial domination and economic oppression.Having achieved political independence in 1962, the nation still needed to make bold strides to show that it had its sovereign right to also determine its own socio-cultural and economic destiny.I have argued elsewhere, that this sovereign self-determination was more that the traditional resistance to enslavement and white domination, but more of a struggle of survival and cultural projection to be themselves on their own African terms, which, in reality, was the only terms they knew.

Resistance theory has got a lot of traction on this account, but I’ve been skeptical of its ability to fully explain the entire African experience in the Caribbean.Particularly, since I believe that there were many Africans in the West who were busy structuring their fractured lives in ways that they had been familiar, and less so concerned about resistance.In other words, their lives in the West, rather than being totally consumed by resistance to European oppression, were first continuations of their African experiences, overlaid with new Caribbean and American experiences.The irony this position reveals is that in that state of being the Africans knew, their position emerged as the greatest heights of resistance that could be achieved.This brings to mind one of dub poet Mutabaruka’s timeless quotes: “the best way to preserve your culture is to live your culture”.There is hardly an argument there against that in my view.

Much may be made of the fact that Nanny happened to be a woman.And, there is little doubt that an analysis of her impact may be pursued along gendered lines.Influential matriarchs are not unusual figures in many West African societies and the influence of the matriarch in modern Jamaican society continues to the present day, and sociological studies of the day will attest.Therefore, it is only fitting that Nanny be included in Jamaica’s list of heroes, and the truth be told, if power were balanced Nanny would likely not be the sole female in the list.

As we pause to consider the legacy of Nanny among the Maroons, the wider Jamaican society, and our international brothers and sisters in the struggle to assert and live their African identity, we can truly find empowerment in the legacy of Grandy Nanny.She recognized that it was important to fight and to stay alive for the good of herself and her community.

True to form, Nanny has proven herself to be a leader of the black survivors.And maybe if Nanny were to say it her way, dispensing her motherly advice, she would probably have expressed it like the writer Chinua Achebe in his book A Man of the People:

The important thing then is to stay alive;

If you do you will outlive your present annoyance…

Besides, if you survive, who knows?

It may be your turn to eat tomorrow.

Your son may bring home your share.

Whatever the manner in which it is expressed, the message is clear.Stay alive, because our prosperity will come tomorrow.Yes, we're the survivors.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Adapted.
This was taken from the Internet and was originally written by Regina Brett, 90
years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio. Ever since I first read it in
September 2009 I can’t forget it. I think the reason is it’s truth. She wrote,
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.
It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to
90 in August, so here is the column once more:1. Life isn't fair, but it's
still good.2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.3. Life is too short to waste
time hating anyone.4. Your job won't take care of
you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.5. Pay off your credit cards every month.6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is
all about.14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never
blinks.16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to
you and no one else.20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an
answer.21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save
it for a special occasion. Today is special.22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.24. The most important sex organ is the brain.25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words. 'In five years, will this
matter?'27. Always choose life.28. Forgive everyone everything.29. What other people think of you is none of your business.30. Time heals almost everything. Give time.31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.33. Believe in miracles.34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or
didn't do.35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.37. Your children get only one childhood.38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab
ours back.41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.42. The best is yet to come.43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.44. Yield.45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.Indeed. What a gift these words are for the living. Walk good!

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

I've grown tired of the folks who are 'ugly from ignorance and broken from being poor.'

- Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

Capitalism is necessary to the progress of the world, and those who unreasonably and wantonly oppose or fight against it are enemies to human advancement; but there should be a limit to the individual or corporate use or control of it.

- Marcus Garvey

I like the quote, “intelligence rules the world, and ignorance pays the price”. Well for sure ignorance has cost us much. Linton Kwesi Johnson in his dub poetry titled “Sense Outa Nonsense” said:

Di innocent and di fool could pass fi twin...

One thing set them far apart though

The innocent will harbor doubt

And check things out, and maybe find out

But the fool, [*kiss teeth] cho

Source: National Library of Jamaica

Marcus Garvey’s Impact Diminished

It does disappoint me when individuals comment that the smear campaign such as the trumped up mail fraud charge against Marcus Garvey did not do much to impact the message of his movement. This could only be true if Garvey’s message was solely the installation of local politicians in times when except for Ethiopia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Haiti all the nations in which people of recent African blood were to be found were colonies of European powers. On March 3, the Jamaica Observer carried the article, “Jamaica to seek exoneration for national heroes” (http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Jamaica-to-seek-exoneration-for-national-heroes_8454797) and is quoted as saying, "The trial tarnished Garvey's reputation, slowed his global movement but did little to diminish the impact of his message which struck a chord in the hearts and minds of black people worldwide.”

It is true that Garvey’s reputation was tarnished, the movement was slowed and that his message struck a chord in the hearts and minds of black people worldwide, but it is false to claim that it did little to diminish the impact of his message and by extension his ultimate objective. His primary objective was not only the installation of local politicians, rather his ultimate objective was prosperity for people of African descent; something divisions of organizations like the United Nations today seek to achieve with the objective of reducing poverty. Through a raft of organizations the wealthier countries give development aid to poorer countries today. A slew of non-profit organizations are actively in pursuit of development/empowerment/poverty alleviation (differences exist in the philosophy of each approach) initiatives today, and some private individuals are on the loose with the next idea as to how to get your money to reduce poverty and develop Africa and Africans globally. The question therefore is what was so wrong with Marcus Garvey’s efforts to empower people of African descent and move them out of this poverty we are witness to today? Did this level of poverty have to exist among Africans today?

The number one reason folks with whom I have spoken advance for not embracing Garvey’s ideas is that he is racist. Nothing could be further from the truth, and this is where ignorance has crept in. Garvey’s writings speak about and encouraged people of African descent to love self, because in the reality of the time many thought themselves ugly on account of their African features (and many still do today) and not worthy of accomplishing anything meaningful in a world where wealth was materially determined. He did not preach hate for others, including whites and Jews. One could argue that to a fault he advocated the emulation of the successes of other peoples. Perry Henzell, the Jamaican film producer of the cult classic, The Harder They Come is quoted as saying:

Garvey was the first black man to say in a big way, stand up, Africa must be redeemed. He wanted the black man to have a continental base for his standing in the world and he had a plan to make all that happen. However, while he was talking race pride, he was not preaching racism - that is the key that makes me comfortable as a white man to deal with Garvey.

A second reason they advance for not embracing Garvey’s ideas is that Marcus Garvey is a crook, which is precisely the reason initiatives to clear his name have been ongoing over the years, including the one currently being undertaken by the Jamaica government. It simply is not true and the evidence has been gathered to show it. Essentially, a clean record is the promise they expect exoneration will deliver. It may, and I support it, but I want more.

Prosperity Derailed And Denied

So having dismissed the straw men, which have been successful propaganda against Garvey’s efforts we should at least question what his true objectives were. Tony Martin in his book Race First identifies three key planks of Garvey’s philosophy – pride in self, self-reliance and nationhood. It is useful to note that Garvey’s ideas were articulated as a response to the peculiar circumstances of people of African descent globally at that point in time. At that time, many thought their blackness inferior, they owned nothing and they were all subjects of European nations or nationals. Garvey therefore set about to address this, and in so doing was unabashed that underlying any success of his efforts must be an answer to the question of how Africa and its Diaspora address their economic condition. Marcus Garvey is quoted as saying:

Be assured of this, that in the African’s rise to wealth will come the adjustment of most of the wrongs inflicted upon him. We must have wealth in culture, wealth in education and solidly wealth of economic values.

The thing that counts in the world is money, it is material wealth ... we are determined to get our portion ... and when we get it to the extent we want it, we know that there will be no more color line.

Wealth is strength, wealth is power, wealth is influence, wealth is justice, is liberty, is real human rights. The system of our world politics suggests such, and as a fact it is.

As with managing any process to achieve the objectives of a program it must be broken up into smaller components. Marcus Garvey’s movement was a peculiarly crafted response to bring about African and African Diaspora prosperity in its time and had given focus to the areas of the black experience as listed below:

African identity (all black men are brothers, all black women are sisters)

African pride (be proud of your heritage, have self-respect and respect for others)

African self-reliance

African economic power (produce, distribute, exchange/sell)

African unity (nationally and internationally)

An African super state in Africa for the protection of Africans world over

African fundamentalism – applying science and technology to nation building

An African concept of the Creator

Each of these points above generated a set of other activities that gave rise to a very complex and powerful organization of black people at a time the world was not prepared to accommodate them. Therein lies the reason for the straw men that would eventually derail Garvey’s movement. How many of his objectives above have been achieved? Do we expect that the UN, development aid, or celebrities will accomplish these for the poor black people around the world today? If the belief is that the rest of the world will end the poverty in Africa and its Diaspora then that is the first shred of evidence you have that the impact of Garvey’s message is diminished.

Source: National Library of Jamaica

There Is A Better Way
It is in this context that I agree with economist Dambisa Moyo’s 2009 book Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working And How There Is A Better Way For Africa. Ms Moyo’s point in her book isthat we have to insist on an alternative to an Aid-only model of development, which is what currently dominates. She argues that aid discourages the addressing of critical internal issues such as trade within Africa, the movement of people within the continent, the challenges of the need for visas, and the exorbitant costs to move within Africa (and the African Diaspora). She says issues such as these need to be addressed if the African nations are to see meaningful development. Interestingly, many African Diaspora economies like Jamaica and others in the Caribbean are challenged with similar issues.

Many tend to first suggest that corruption has been the undoing of Africa. However, I noted with interest Moyo’s suggestion that though corruption exists, to suggest that it is the sole reason for Africa’s underdevelopment is not supported by the evidence, since many countries in Africa are not necessarily more corrupt than some other more prosperous places in the world. If this is so then clearly other factors are at play in Africa's lagging development. Moyo from my reading speaks to some of those factors, she does not see solving corruption as a prerequisite for development as she gives examples of how some Asian countries have grown in spite of corruption equal to or worse than that in Africa. That said, one could reasonably conclude that Africa's problem is not primarily moral, nor is it primarily political as in the systems of governance, rather it’s considerably economic. Indeed, this is the conclusion Marcus Garvey arrived at by 1919. Why then have we missed it?

Dambisa Moyo’s solutions are predicated on making capital work in the context of the market. No doubt, they are more technical than Marcus Garvey would have articulated, but the essential principles remain. She proposes making governments more accountable by directing them to the bond markets, encouraging foreign direct investments, encouraging trade (within and outside of Africa), facilitating financing a la Grameen Bank model, encouraging other innovative solutions to bring the poor and their earnings/savings/remittances into the formal system to enable them to grow their wealth. Aid has not allowed these things to happen over the years and so the approach deserves to be revisited.

On the contrary, if Marcus Garvey’s movement would have led to solutions as outlined above, and therefore would have brought wealth and prosperity, and by extension poverty alleviation as we have come to know it, then how could we conclude that his message and impact were not diminished? The smear campaign such as the trumped up mail fraud charge against Marcus Garvey was designed to discredit Garvey’s message, the impact of which were the conditions that gave rise to the present conditions of miserable economic poverty and social depravity in Africa and its Diaspora.

Source: National Library of Jamaica

Grow Your Wealth
Among the many things Marcus Garvey addressed was the role thrift, wealth and enterprise must play in the life of Africans globally. In one of his speeches to the African American community in 1919 he said:

If we are to rise as a great ... national force we must start business enterprises of our own; we must build ships and start trading with ourselves between America, the West Indies and Africa. We must put up factories in all great manufacturing centers of this country, to give employment to the thousands of men and women ... we must manufacture boots, clothing and those things that people need, not only our people in America, the West Indies and Africa, but the people of China ... India ... South and Central America, and even the white man. He has for hundreds of years made a market for his goods among Africans ... therefore, Africans have the same right to make a market among white people for his manufactured goods.

These words resonate deeply with sentiments that favor a belief in the market and capitalism, which many others including the Chinese have come to favor much later than 1919. After all, it was Marcus Garvey who said, “Capitalism is necessary to the progress of the world, and those who unreasonably and wantonly oppose or fight against it are enemies to human advancement.” His rationale for this position was that although the system is ruthless it was the one that allowed the disenfranchised blacks the best chance at self-empowerment. I do agree, with the benefit of hindsight.

Among Marcus Garvey’s thoughts on the accumulation of wealth we can find the following quotes:

All wealth is good. God created all wealth and never created poverty. The man who is poor in the world has created his own poverty... What I mean ... is that you were born rich with the senses. All the wealth in the world today is the product of man's senses.

The African must become wealthy; he must become a master of finance, a captain of industry, a director of science and art, an exponent of literature; he must develop a concrete philosophy, and with combination of all these he must impress himself... upon the civilization of the world.

To the contented soul, wealth is the stepping-stone to perfection; to the miser it is the nearest avenue to hell. I would prefer to be honestly wealthy, than miserably poor.

I will not claim that all the ideas of Marcus Garvey are appropriate for this period, I certainly take issue with a meager sum, which in truth were very contextual. Unfortunately, with the passing of time and the onset of modernization, not enough has changed with regards to the fundamental conditions Garvey initially sought to address. As a result, many of his ideas are still useful. Many of the principles he espoused remain applicable to the African development cause.

In conclusion, I will say that there is no use crying over spilled milk. My reflections should not be read or interpreted as blame on leaders who were the contemporaries of Garvey, or those who came along subsequently. Blaming leaders of the past for the decisions they made will get us nowhere at this point. The conspiracy against Garvey was massive, of the kind only governments could have undertaken, so many fell victim. The more important point is that we learn from their mistakes. The call to lend a hand to the betterment of the lives of African people globally is noble and we should get on with it. Whosoever will come on our terms may come.

There is more to be said and I will say it in due course, but for now I will close with another Marcus Garvey quote:

When it is considered that twentieth century civilization pays homage and worships peoples and nations only on the basis of wealth, it should not be surprising to understand why the African is universally ignored...With all that may be said of the morals and ethics of our time, carrying with it the suggestion of rights, liberty and justice the whole fabric is based upon economic wealth ... so it behooves the African to think in terms of economic expansion through which he may endorse the consideration that is necessary for his political, social and other betterment.

*Quotes taken from the book Marcus Garvey Said... compiled and edited by Ken Jones